


Chasing the Starlight

by blackidyll



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 06:05:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13207554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackidyll/pseuds/blackidyll
Summary: "I didn't take you for an astronomer," James says, his voice coming out soft and secretive in the vast open spaces of the outdoors.Q huffs out a breath, wisps of condensation coalescing in the cold. "I'm not, not even remotely. I know very little of the stars – I can't even track the North Star." He tips his head towards James, and the smile that graces his lips is tender, intimate. "But that's the allure of a mystery. You don't need to understand it to be fascinated by it."





	Chasing the Starlight

**Author's Note:**

> I found the draft of this in the depths of my writing folder. I have absolutely no recollection of writing it, but I love the last two paragraphs and it really suits the time of the year (winter themed and all), so here it is, fleshed out and edited. 
> 
> I hope the last day of 2017 treats you well, and happy, happy new year, wherever you are in the world!

The world outside the cabin is awash in white, freshly fallen snow blanketing everything in sight and glimmering in the faint starlight.

James's breath condenses in the air; at any other time he would prefer to stay indoors by the fire, a shot of whisky in hand. But he’d journeyed this far away from the city for a reason, and that reason is currently somewhere out in the wilderness.

Therefore, so is James.

He'd stepped into the main cabin to find the place bereft of people and the pegs beside the fireplace bereft of both his and Q's outer coats, and simply put two and two together. The crisp footprints in the snow formed an obvious enough trail, and James had slipped on his scarf and gloves and stepped outside to search for his wayward Quartermaster.

It’s quiet. Each step James takes makes a soft crunch as his weight breaks through the snow. The moon is barely a crescent in the sky, but the stars are out in number. It’s easy enough to follow Q’s prints, so James turns his head skyward, seeking out the familiar constellations.

James studies the stars as he does everything else – with a tactical eye, a quick assessment as to their worth. He can admit that he prefers a starry sky to a starless one, but that might be a consequence of his time in the navy. As with the sailors of old, James learned to navigate the world through the constellations, and if on occasion he'd tracked his way out of the wilderness by the simple light and direction of the stars, well, that's simply another weapon in his arsenal.

It’s these very stars that lured his Quartermaster from the warmth and comfort of their cabin, and James finds Q exactly as he expected – in field clear of trees with an expansive view of the night sky, his head tilted back, nearly unrecognizable in two layers of heavy coats.

James steps forward until he reaches Q’s side.

"I didn't take you for an astronomer," James says, his voice coming out soft and secretive in the vast open spaces of the outdoors.

Q huffs out a breath, wisps of condensation coalescing in the cold. "I'm not, not even remotely. I know very little of the stars – I can't even track the North Star." He tips his head towards James, and the smile that graces his lips is tender, intimate. "But that's the allure of a mystery. You don't need to understand it to be fascinated by it."

The moment holds for a beautiful second, a perfect fragment of time. Then Q’s turns his attention fully to James, and makes a quiet noise at the back of his throat.

“You’re only wearing a sweater. You must be freezing.” Q scrambles at the buttons of his outer most coat – James’s topcoat – with mittened hands.

“It’s a little cold, yes,” James says. There’s a reason why Q’s in two coats instead of just his own, after all.

Q manages to open the buttons and wrestles his way free of the topcoat, holding it open so James can easily slip it on. It’s still faintly warm from Q’s body heat even through Q’s own coat, and James luxuriates in the warmth for a long moment before pulling Q towards him, tucking Q against his chest and folding the edges of the topcoat around them both. Q makes a startled noise before burrowing further into James, and James waits for him to settle before tucking his arms around Q’s waist, his hands settling against the small of Q’s back.

“So you can watch the stars a little longer without freezing anything important off,” James says.

"I'm sure what you consider important is quite different from what I consider important," Q says, but without the usual razor-sharp wit in his voice. He turns to kiss the corner of James’s mouth, cold lips melting into a deeper heat, before he pulls back and glances at the sky once more. “I’ve never seen anything like this. London’s too bright."

"Most cities are. You won't get sights like this unless you go far into the countryside, or somewhere even more remote, without the light pollution." 

"I never realized there could be so many stars," Q says. "They’re beautiful.”

James doesn't answer, doesn't take his eyes off Q for even a token glance skyward.

James is not a poet; he has a gilded enough tongue, but he can't with all objectivity say that Q is more beautiful than the dappled night sky. The two are far too removed from each other for comparison, the stars cold and distant while Q is warm and alive and _present_ in James's arms.

But James looks at the soft wonderment in Q's face, the faint starlight glinting off his glasses and against the curve of his cheekbones, and thinks that perhaps, through his Quartermaster, he too could learn to love the stars. 


End file.
